162. Ricketts's and Shannon's Collector's Mark

The art historian Frits Lugt (1884-1970) compiled an overview of collector's marks of public and private art collectors, dealers, and printers. The 1956 Supplement to his reference work Les Marques de collections contains two marks for Ricketts and Shannon. A digitized version is available on Delpher, a Dutch website that also contains hundreds of newspapers, and magazines.

Collector's mark of Ricketts and Shannon

One collector's mark of Ricketts and Shannon was used for drawings by Tiepolo, Rubens, Van Dijck, Delacroix, and others left to the Fitzwilliam Museum - these names were mentioned by Frits Lugt who had personally seen the mark on them. The design is of two interlocked 'C's, referring to Ricketts's and Shannon's identical Christian names. The design is similar to that of the binding of Hero and Leander (1894), although the intertwined initials for this book probably stood for the initials of the authors Christopher Marlowe and George Chapman: 'C' and 'G'.

Intertwined 'C' and 'G' on the binding of Hero and Leander (1894)

Another collector's mark - an R and S in a circle - was used for the drawings that were left to the British Museum. This mark was designed by Laurence Binyon when the drawings arrived there.

Laurence Binyon, Collector's mark designed for Ricketts and Shannon